Picking Up The Pieces
by SnowandJames4eva
Summary: This is the story of Anastasia, it's by my best friend who wants to make an account but is on vacation and can't right now: So I posted this little tease for her. Please review?
1. Chapter 1

**Okay guys so this here is a story my best friend has started to work on:) It is the story of Anastasia which I absolutely adore! Now she is in the process of getting an account on here but wanted me to post a tease of it on my profile in order to get some feedback first:) So here is a note from her**

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**Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon A Time:( This story is purely for the enjoyment of me and fellow Oncers**

**Picking Up the Pieces, is a pull off of my best friend, SnowandJames4eva's story I Will Always Find you with the character of Ethan(all credit goes to her for his character though he is actually Peter;) This is the story of Anastasia:)**

**Lastly I want to dedicate this to Snow, her writings are what inspired me to begin my own adventure.**

**~MH**

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**I so love that girl:) ps: it's Snow again;) Anyways enjoy this little teaser of Picking Up the Pieces by MH**

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A small redheaded girl was dancing about her room. It was an extravagant room; it was adorned with golden façade and hand painted walls, a four poster bed with a velvety canopy sat in the center of the room and to one side a matching desk. This girl was no ordinary child. She was a Duchess of a small land. Her father was King of this land. The girl heard her name called and ran out of the room.

Peeking out from behind her father's throne, the small girl looked out, into the ballroom. She so longed to be a part of the dancing under the great big crystal chandelier. As if her father knew what she was thinking, he snuck up behind her, picked her up and whirled her around, causing a great deal of giggling from the child. He held her on his hip as the music sped up to accommodate him and guided her in a traditional dance. All of a sudden, the chandelier flickered and went out. The large crowd of debutants, dukes, and governors split down the middle to allow a dark figure to pass through.

"Greetings to the fairest of them all," King Nicholas called to the dark stranger, setting his daughter down and ushering her behind him, to her nanny.

The stranger laughed bitterly, "Surely, Nicholas, you are finished with the charade."

"Heavens, I don't have the slightest idea as to what you're talking about."

Suddenly, a purple glow had overtaken King Nicholas, wrenching him upwards and held him in the air.

"You know very well that this is the only piece of land that I am not ruling. I have come for it, and don't you say anything. I gave you fair warning. As of Christmastime I informed you if a treaty was not negotiated by June, I would be taking your kingdom by force, and here I am."

The King strained against the invisible hand holding him up in his ballroom. "You will not make a fool out of me, Queen. You will never get this land. It has been ruled by my family for generations. I will not abdicate the throne for an outsider who wishes to control. I will only abdicate if my people aren't happy, and we've had no riots! GET OUT!"

A breeze picked up and began revolving around the Evil Queen. King Nicholas fell to the ground in a crumpled heap and his daughter ran to his side. When he was standing the Queen began her final words.

"Listen now and hear me. Within the next week, all of you and anyone else residing here will be dead. Your kingdom will be mine. If you try to leave, be wary. I will always find you, wherever you are," the Evil Queen shouted and gave a sinister laugh. The King fell to the ground and held his daughter as the Queen cackled and broke through the ceiling with a huge burst.

The air filled with screams. Everywhere you looked, King Nicholas' palace was red, blood red. From the throne room came a voice. A desperate voice, trying to find anyone. No, not anyone, someone in particular.

"Anastasia? ANASTASIA?" came an old woman's cry from the throne room.

"Grandmamma! I'm here Grandmamma! Where are you?" Anastasia, the little redheaded duchess called.

Finally escaping from the throne room, Marie, Anastasia's Grandmamma, appeared in Anastasia's bedroom. She was sitting in the corner with a blue blanket and the music box, the key to it around her neck.

"Oh Anastasia! We must get out of here!"

They were on their way over to the bedroom door when the glowing purple smoke that had constricted Nicholas and Clarisse confronted them in the doorway. Marie slammed the door shut and the smoke began to seep its way into the room. Frantically, Marie and Anastasia searched for another way out of the room. A servant boy, Dimitri, had taken a shine to Anastasia, as he was only two years older than she. He slid a panel open in the wall and entered the room.

"Come. This way! Through the servant's quarters!" Dimitri shouted at them.

They eagerly pushed around him and crawled through the hole. Dimitri pushed them through to go faster, and Anastasia dropped the music box.

"My music box!"

"GO!"

Dimitri took one last look around Anastasia's room. He had once come in here and watched her sleep. Now, it was all over. He grabbed the music box and took it with him through the tunnels and out of the palace, before the purple cloud had made it into the servant's quarters. The only problem was, where did Anastasia and Marie go?

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**So Oncers? Did you like it? Please leave your thoughts for my dear friend:) She really wants to know what you guys think and reviews will make her life! If you guys like it, I will post what her penname is when she gets back from vacation and is able to make her account. Now please review?**

**~Snow**


	2. Chapter 2: Full Chapter!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon A Time:( This story is purely for the enjoyment of me and fellow Oncers**

**Picking Up the Pieces, is a pull off of my best friend, SnowandJames4eva's story I Will Always Find you with the character of Ethan(all credit goes to her for his character though he is actually Peter;) This is the story of Anastasia:)**

**Lastly I want to dedicate this to Snow, her writings are what inspired me to begin my own adventure.**

**~MH**

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**So MH is at dance camp ANOTHER week...so she wanted me to just post the whole chapter:) Hope you guys like it! **

Picking up the Pieces

Chapter 1

~Storybrooke~

Mary Margaret Blanchard sat at her desk, staring at the revolving fan in the ceiling of her classroom. She had just been release from the "jail" in Emma's office last week. She'd had no trouble re-adjusting to life as a functioning member of society in Storybrooke except for the occasional, awkward mentioning of her ex-boyfriend, David Nolan. This topic had arisen in her classroom. She had just finished reading _**The Frog Prince**_ to her class.

"He transformed into a handsome prince. They were married and lived happily ever after," Mary Margaret finished, closing the book with a soft thud.

"Ms. Blanchard, why would anyone _ever _kiss a frog?" a small voice wondered from the back of the class.

"Why, Paige, if you loved someone very much, wouldn't you do anything to help them? Say the boy you were in love with magically became a frog. If you could make him human again with a kiss, you would wouldn't you?"

"Well, I guess. Ms. Blanchard, if Mr. David was a frog would you kiss him?"

Mary Margaret sighed. He'd done it again. Somehow David had managed to wiggle back into the center of attention. The room was filled with a tense, yet somehow questioning silence until she answered.

"I'm not sure sweetie," she said when she finally replied, her tone guarded and wary.

Paige hadn't notice, "Why?"

"I'm not sure if it'd be worth it."

"But I thought you and Mr. David were in love, like in a fairytale in Henry's book."

Why. The most potent and loaded question it seemed.

"We've had a slight disagreement."

"Oh," Paige blushed and looked down at her hands.

This was how Mary Margaret had come to be staring blankly at her fan. Dazed, she didn't even notice her students beginning to pack up. She snapped to attention when the 3 o'clock bell dismissing the students chimed.

"Goodbye, everyone! Have a nice weekend. I will see you on Monday," Mary Margaret called in a falsely cheerful voice. She gathered her things, ready to close up shop for the weekend. Her eye caught a small glint of light in a dark, dusty corner of her classroom. Lightly walking over, she dusted of a small cylindrical object. After trying unsuccessfully to clean it and determine its origin, she slid it into her jacket pocket and decided to show it to Emma after she got it cleaned up.

~Fairytale Land~

A small redheaded girl was dancing about her room. It was an extravagant room; it was adorned with golden façade and hand painted walls, a four poster bed with a velvety canopy sat in the center of the room and to one side a matching desk. This girl was no ordinary child. She was a Duchess of a small land. Her father was King of this land. The girl heard her name called and ran out of the room.

Peeking out from behind her father's throne, the small girl looked out, into the ballroom. She so longed to be a part of the dancing under the great big crystal chandelier. As if her father knew what she was thinking, he snuck up behind her, picked her up and whirled her around, causing a great deal of giggling from the child. He held her on his hip as the music sped up to accommodate him and guided her in a traditional dance. All of a sudden, the chandelier flickered and went out. The large crowd of debutants, dukes, and governors split down the middle to allow a dark figure to pass through.

"Greetings to the fairest of them all," King Nicholas called to the dark stranger, setting his daughter down and ushering her behind him, to her nanny.

The stranger laughed bitterly, "Surely, Nicholas, you are finished with the charade."

"Heavens, I don't have the slightest idea as to what you're talking about."

Suddenly, a purple glow had overtaken King Nicholas, wrenching him upwards and held him in the air.

"You know very well that this is the only piece of land that I am not ruling. I have come for it, and don't you say anything. I gave you fair warning. As of Christmastime I informed you if a treaty was not negotiated by June, I would be taking your kingdom by force, and here I am."

The King strained against the invisible hand holding him up in his ballroom. "You will not make a fool out of me, Queen. You will never get this land. It has been ruled by my family for generations. I will not abdicate the throne for an outsider who wishes to control. I will only abdicate if my people aren't happy, and we've had no riots! GET OUT!"

A breeze picked up and began revolving around the Evil Queen. King Nicholas fell to the ground in a crumpled heap and his daughter ran to his side. When he was standing the Queen began her final words.

"Listen now and hear me. Within the next week, all of you and anyone else residing here will be dead. Your kingdom will be mine. If you try to leave, be wary. I will always find you, wherever you are," the Evil Queen shouted and gave a sinister laugh. The King fell to the ground and held his daughter as the Queen cackled and broke through the ceiling with a huge burst.

~Storybrooke~

Mary Margaret wiped the sweat from her brow and sat back, with a satisfied smirk on her face. A green and gold box sat in front of her on the worn wooden table along with a pair of long, yellow gloves and a bottle of window cleaner. It was a curious little box. She had no idea what it was, or, for that matter, how to get it open. A jewelry box, maybe? She was still bamboozled as to what the little trinket was. She took a few paces into her bedroom and placed it on her vanity. Changing her mind, she slid it back into her pocket, donned her jacket and left the apartment.

A door opened and its little bell jingled. A beautiful young woman with thick red hair and sparkling blue eyes looked up from the dark floor of Storybrooke's orphanage.

"Oh hey, Mary! How's life?" she smiled.

"Much better now that I'm out of Emma's office," Mary Margaret responded just as cheerful, real this time. "What about you, Anya?"

"Just peachy," Anya winked.

"Anything I can do to help?"

"Mostly, I only have those meaningless tasks that take hours to finish. But, if you'd like to work, I've got things you can do."

"Thanks. I'll do anything to get my mind off of recent events," Mary said with a grimace.

Before she'd even finished her sentence, Anya had ushered her out the lobby door and deeper into the orphanage.

As Mary Margaret made the beds belonging to Ava and Nicholas, she watched Anya scrubbing the dark linoleum floor. At 20, her young face was already creased with lines of worry and despair. She'd had such a lonely life. All Mary Margaret knew was that Anya had lived in the orphanage her whole life, watched her friends get adopted and grow up, but had been left behind to care for the orphanage which was now getting to be rundown and in need of repair. Mary finished fluffing the pillows and folding the blankets over the heads of the children's beds.

"So, I think you need a girl's night and we all know I need a break," Mary Margaret smiled and walked back into the kitchen.

Anya looked up and blew a few strands of hair out of her face, "I could use a break, but who'd cover for me up here?"

Mary Margaret frowned. She hadn't really thought about the fact that when running an orphanage, you didn't really get a day or night off. She ran through a list of all her friends in Storybrooke, searching for someone to take care of Ava and Nicholas while Anya was gone.

"Well, umm, maybe I could call Ashley. I'm sure Ash wouldn't mind bringin' her baby out and having a night with Ava and Nicholas. The kids will behave, right?"

"I don't see why not. They haven't given me a lick of trouble since Emma brought them. I would bet that Ash would be happy to get away. When it was just me up here, she used to bring her little babe out all the time to keep me company. And besides, she keeps insisting she owes me," Anya winked and settled that.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow night at 5 o'clock sharp, okay?"

"Sounds peachy!"

Mary Margaret gave Anya a warm hug and waved as she drove off. The red paint was still not gone. Ugh. Taking a detour, Mary Margaret took her car through the wash, trying to get the paint off. It finally got all the little red spots off her poor car. Now, finally en route, Mary Margaret drove around town and parked her car just outside Mr. Gold's shop.

"Well, if it isn't Mary Margaret Blanchard. Good afternoon, dearie. What brings you to my shop?" Mr. Gold asked with a hint of insanity edging into his voice.

"Hello, Mr. Gold," Mary Margaret said somewhat coldly, "I was wondering if you could tell me what this little thing is."

Gold held out his hand as Mary Margaret extracted the mysterious little box from her pocket. Gingerly, Gold examined the thing; held it upside-down, looked it over, top to bottom, left to right, shook it and tried to pry it open. He started muttering things under his breath that she couldn't understand, but she thought they might be incantations of some kind.

"Where did you find this, dearie, hmmm?" Mr. Gold inquired.

"Oh, um, in a dark and dusty corner of my classroom. I cleaned it up a bit."

Mr. Gold set down the box and giggled, "I can tell you what this is."

"Really?"

"Of course, dearie. I am an expert in these things. It's my job," he giggled and twittered his fingers. Oh he would tell her what it was all right. He also knew where it came from, and whose it was but that would cost her something. Although he might tell her if she was to let him keep it. Oh yes. Deals were his specialty.

"So, what is it?" Mary Margaret finally asked. Her voice was filled with as much excitement as a child's on Christmas day.

"A music box."

~Fairytale Land~

The air filled with screams. Everywhere you looked, King Nicholas' palace was red, blood red. From the throne room came a voice. A desperate voice, trying to find anyone. No, not anyone, someone in particular.

"Anastasia? ANASTASIA?" came an old woman's cry from the throne room.

"Grandmamma! I'm here Grandmamma! Where are you?" Anastasia, the little redheaded duchess called.

Finally escaping from the throne room, Marie, Anastasia's Grandmamma, appeared in Anastasia's bedroom. She was sitting in the corner with a blue blanket and the music box, the key to it around her neck.

"Oh Anastasia! We must get out of here!"

They were on their way over to the bedroom door when the glowing purple smoke that had constricted Nicholas and Clarisse confronted them in the doorway. Marie slammed the door shut and the smoke began to seep its way into the room. Frantically, Marie and Anastasia searched for another way out of the room. A servant boy, Dimitri, had taken a shine to Anastasia, as he was only two years older than she. He slid a panel open in the wall and entered the room.

"Come. This way! Through the servant's quarters!" Dimitri shouted at them.

They eagerly pushed around him and crawled through the hole. Dimitri pushed them through to go faster, and Anastasia dropped the music box.

"My music box!"

"GO!"

Dimitri took one last look around Anastasia's room. He had once come in here and watched her sleep. Now, it was all over. He grabbed the music box and took it with him through the tunnels and out of the palace, before the purple cloud had made it into the servant's quarters. The only problem was, where did Anastasia and Marie go?

~Storybrooke~

Dalton was at Granny's with the guys after a hard day's work. He worked at the lumber yard with his best bud, Ethan. Tonight, David had gotten a ride to Granny's from them.

"Hey boys! Ethan." Ruby leaned over and planted a quick kiss on Ethan's head, "What can I get you tonight?" She pulled a notepad to take their orders from her apron that was considerably longer than her red cut-offs.

"I'll have, uh, a coke and a hamburger, please," said David, handing his menu to Dalton.

"I'll have a Root Beer Float and two grilled cheese sandwiches," said Dalton, handing the menus to Ethan.

"Baby, I'll have a coke with two straws and a burger," Ethan said. He got up and started to walk over to the bar, but Ruby stopped him.

"I'll take that," Ruby said, playfully snatching the menus out of Ethan's hands. He grabbed her around the waist and swung her around. When he finally set her down, she was peppered with kisses. She laughed and lightly slapped his arm as she made her way to the kitchen to put in the boys orders.

Ethan made his way back to his table and sighed. His friends laughed.

"You got one sweet girl, Eth," Dalton said wistfully.

"You wish she was yours!" Ethan laughed.

"Boys, quit talking about me! Don't you have more important things to talk about?" Ruby hollered from back in the kitchen.

"Yeah, I guess she's right. How's Mary Margaret, David?" Dalton asked.

David hesitated. He could tell them what he thought or what was actually going on. He went with the latter. "I haven't talked to her since she got out of jail."

The other two stared at him, shocked. "I thought you guys were an item. I mean, I know Kathryn's back but she's okay with you guys. Why? What's goin' on?" Dalton inquired.

"Well, you're full of questions this evening, Dalton. I didn't believe that she hadn't done it. I told her so when she was still in jail. She hasn't spoken a word to me since."

"Dude, you broke her heart," said Ethan, "what did you expect? Her to come running into your open arms and kiss you?"

"No, but I did think she would at least talk to me. I do feel bad, now, knowing she hasn't done anything. I think a small part of me already knew that but I didn't accept it."

"You got some work to do, buddy," Dalton replied.

"Alrighty. So we've got a Coke and a Hamburger for David, a Root Beer and two grilled cheese sandwiches for Dalton, and a Coke and a Burger for Ethan," Ruby announced handing out the food.

"Hey, where's my second straw?" Ethan asked suspiciously.

"Oops! Here we go! Now we're back in business," Ruby sat down beside Ethan in the booth, and started sipping his Coke. "So, how was work today?"

"Not much was going on. It's just the lumberyard Rubes," Ethan leaned over and pecked Ruby on the cheek.

Ruby giggled and snuggled up against Ethan. He was so warm and strong. And to think, she'd almost lost him to that other girl. She was happy just to sit here forever.

"RUBY! Stop flirting and do your job. There are other customers here," Granny snapped at Ruby. "If you can't control yourself I'm going to have to find you a different shift."

Ruby started grumbling under her breath and got up from the table. She stomped over to Granny at the cash register, fuming. After a few minutes of heated conversation, Ruby turned around and walked back to the boys table.

"Here are your receipts. If you will please take them up to Granny, at the register, when you are ready to pay for your meal."

The boys exchanged glances. This wasn't like Ruby to shut down.

"I'll take up the receipts and distract Granny. Ethan you go talk to Ruby and find out what's wrong," said David, getting up to leave.

"I'm coming with you. Ethan, give me your money and I'll pay for yours as well," Dalton got up and Ethan handed him the cash.

"You know," Ethan said to his friends as he was walking away, "it's time we got Dalton a girl, too."

Dalton snorted, "Yeah, like I need a girl to keep me happy."

Little did he know, he needed someone. And they needed him too.

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**So did you guys like it? Please let me know so I can tell her. She wants me to personally thank all of you who added this to your favorites/alerts and/or reviewed:D Also just a clarification, Clarisse is Nicholas' wife btws**

**Please review!**


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